Trump policy is emerging: anything he does has to profit him. He is so locked into all-encompassing self-aggrandizement, all other motivations are subordinate. Country, American people, national security, economic development: all are mere means to his private end which is the futile filling of a bottomless void his ego believes can still somehow be satisfied.
He has tried to fill his void vertically with skyscraper Trump hotels. He has tried to fill it horizontally with vast golf courses in his name. He has tried to fill it with trophy wives. Now he has landed serendipitously in the chair of the most powerful person in the world, and he is still looking for the kind of fulfillment he has always sought: other people's envy.
Trump does not work for other people. He never has, except for his own father. The idea that now he works for the American people has not yet crossed his mind and never will. They are mere vote suckers to whom he only needs to pay lip service. The folks he will reward are the big check writers, the major donors who bankrolled his candidacy and consistently showed their loyalty with the understanding they would benefit from his election. He'll do that by lowering their taxes because at the same time he is lowering his. But even his loyal major supporters are seen by him as mere investors in just another one of his projects, which this time is named “Make America Great Again.” It's like Trump University, only bigger. Much, much bigger.
The Donald was asked recently why he does not exercise to get in shape. After all, golf, cheeseburgers, and two scoops of ice cream on your pie is not a regimen aimed at longevity. When asked why he shuns real exercise, he said: “The human body [is] like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only [depletes].” This zero sum view of the human body (his human body) is but a microcosm of his view of the world economy, which he depressingly outlined in his inaugural address. Zero sum, of course, becomes the justification for his America First policy of isolationism. What his rank and file supporters fail to recognize is that, logically extended, America First inevitably gets focused and transformed in Trump’s mind into Trump First. He can't help himself. That’s the conclusion a zero sum believer must reach. In the end there is only one winner. The rest of us are losers.
From time to time Trump may offer a little enticement of promise or token benefit to his followers. Mostly he will hold rallies and continue to promote himself as savior of the little guy. Remember: “He loves the poorly educated.” Meanwhile, he and his family members, like mafiosi on a scale never dreamt of by the godfathers of yore, will be focused on the master plan of Trump First under the banner of America First.
There is an old expression: “He who dies with the most toys wins.” It is the quintessential mantra of the hedonistic narcissist. Pathetic and repulsive to most regular folks, it is zero sum dogma to Trump.
